Nanoclay Gelation Approach toward Improved Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Efficiencies: An Investigation of Charge Transport and Shift in the TiO2 Conduction Band

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• 作者：Xiu Wang ; Sneha A. Kulkarni ; Bruno Ieiri Ito ; Sudip K. Batabyal ; Kazuteru Nonomura ; Chee Cheong Wong ; Michael Gr盲tzel ; Subodh G. Mhaisalkar ; Satoshi Uchida
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2013
• 出版时间：January 23, 2013
• 年：2013
• 卷：5
• 期：2
• 页码：444-450
• 全文大小：336K
• 年卷期：v.5,no.2(January 23, 2013)
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

Nanoclay minerals play a promising role as additives in the liquid electrolyte to form a gel electrolyte for quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, because of the high chemical stability, unique swelling capability, ion exchange capacity, and rheological properties of nanoclays. Here, we report the improved performance of a quasi-solid-state gel electrolyte that is made from a liquid electrolyte and synthetic nitrate-hydrotalcite nanoclay. Charge transport mechanisms in the gel electrolyte and nanoclay interactions with TiO₂/electrolyte interface are discussed in detail. The electrochemical analysis reveals that the charge transport is solely based on physical diffusion at the ratio of [PMII]:[I₂] = 10:1 (where PMII is 1-propyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide). The calculated physical diffusion coefficient shows that the diffusion of redox ions is not affected much by the viscosity of nanoclay gel. The addition of nitrate-hydrotalcite clay in the electrolyte has the effect of buffering the protonation process at the TiO₂/electrolyte interface, resulting in an upward shift in the conduction band and a boost in open-circuit voltage (V_OC). Higher V_OC values with undiminished photocurrent is achieved with nitrate-hydrotalcite nanoclay gel electrolyte for organic as well as for inorganic dye (D35 and N719) systems. The efficiency for hydrotalcite clay gel electrolyte solar cells is increased by 10%, compared to that of the liquid electrolyte. The power conversion efficiency can reach 10.1% under 0.25 sun and 9.6% under full sun. This study demonstrates that nitrate-hydrotalcite nanoclay in the electrolyte not only solidifies the liquid electrolyte to prevent solvent leakage, but also facilitates the improvement in cell efficiency.

Keywords:

quasi-solid state; anionic nanoclay; hydrotalcite; gel electrolyte; dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs)